Todd Howard Dismisses 'Fan Chatter' About Purported Rivalry Between Bethesda and Obsidian as the New Vegas Developer Starts Work on a New Fallout Game

Todd Howard wants you to believe the Bethesda-Obsidian rivalry exists only in Reddit threads. He told Windows Central the "fan chatter" misses a "huge amount of mutual respect" behind the scenes, that both studios have been "wondering if we could find a way to work together in the right way." It's a practiced line. He used a version of it in 2019, after Microsoft acquired Obsidian, calling them "the only group we really trust" with Fallout. "For me, it was either this group or nobody." The sentiment is convenient. It was convenient then, when Obsidian's independence was fresh. It's convenient now, when that independence has been visibly curtailed.

The timeline tells a different story. Xbox's latest layoff round hit Obsidian hard. Reports indicate Avowed 2 — the sequel to their critically praised, creatively distinct RPG — was canceled as part of new CEO Asha Sharma's mandate to concentrate resources on "biggest franchises." The Elder Scrolls VI for Bethesda. Fallout for Obsidian. This isn't collaboration born of creative alignment. It's consolidation dressed in partnership language. When a studio shelves its own IP to service a sibling's, the power dynamic is settled. Howard's "super excited" reads less like enthusiasm than like a landlord welcoming a tenant back to the property.

Look at what Bethesda kept for itself. Today's roadmap confirms Fallout 5 in pre-production. Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters in development. A major Fallout 76 expansion — Raven Rock, a Fallout 3 prequel — slated for next year. Fallout 4 just crossed 35 million copies sold. The crown jewels stay in Rockville. Obsidian gets a mystery project. Could be New Vegas 2. Could be something else entirely. Howard's "note" mentions "multiple Fallout projects in active development" but the specifics for Obsidian remain carefully unspoken. That silence is the tell.

The New Vegas legacy complicates the narrative. That game, built in 18 months on Bethesda's engine and Bethesda's timeline, outperformed its parent studio's own entry in the eyes of a vocal plurality. The "rivalry" Howard dismisses was never about animosity. It was about competence. Obsidian wrote better dialogue, designed better quests, understood the franchise's soul better than its owners did. That stings. Howard's 2019 praise — "there's only one group we really trust" — carried an implicit admission: we couldn't do what they did. The fans noticed. The "chatter" persists because the disparity persists.

Now the leverage has flipped. Microsoft owns both. The parent company decided Obsidian's best use is Fallout content, not original work. Avowed 2 dies. A Fallout assignment arrives. Howard calls it a "window or a pocket where we could do something together that really, really made sense." The corporate vocabulary is precise. Windows. Pockets. Sense. These are portfolio-management terms, not creative ones. The "mutual respect" Howard cites is real in the same way a general respects a specialist unit — valued for what it can deliver, not for what it might choose to build.

Fallout 76's continued dominance — millions still in Appalachia, 70 free updates, another expansion coming — proves the franchise doesn't need saving. It needs feeding. Bethesda's pipeline is full. Fallout 5 is the "long-range destination." The remasters service nostalgia and revenue. The 76 expansion services the live service. Obsidian's project slots into a gap in the release calendar, a "pocket" in the roadmap. That's the collaboration. Not two studios chasing a shared vision. One studio handing another a work order wrapped in warm language.

The canceled Avowed 2 is the ghost in the room. We don't know its shape, its systems, its world. We know it was Obsidian's. We know Xbox killed it to sharpen focus on franchises that move hardware and Game Pass subscriptions. The Elder Scrolls VI gets Bethesda's full weight. Fallout gets Obsidian's. The "mutual respect" Howard celebrates didn't protect Avowed. It didn't even merit a mention in the roadmap note. The note that Howard references, the one that maps Fallout's future, contains Bethesda's projects and a vague placeholder for Obsidian's. The asymmetry is the message.

Howard isn't lying. He's managing. "Fan chatter" is a useful category — it lets him acknowledge the perception while dismissing the substance. The substance is structural. Xbox's strategy treats studios as franchise stewards, not creative entities. Obsidian's talent for reactive, choice-heavy RPG design made them the best Fallout steward once. Now it makes them the designated Fallout steward, whether the next project ignites them or not. The "window" Howard found isn't creative. It's calendrical. A slot opened. A studio filled it. The rest is press copy.

Watch what happens next. If Obsidian's Fallout game launches and reviews well, Howard will claim vindication. If it launches and feels like obligation — competent, polished, missing the spark that made New Vegas sing — the "fan chatter" will return louder. The rivalry was never personal. It was structural. Two studios, one IP, uneven control. Microsoft didn't fix the structure. It formalized it. Howard's dismissal is the sound of a structure settling into its final shape.